"We are now resting at camp 4, for a few hours at least. Our plan is to set off this evening aiming to reach the top early tomorrow morning. Time to get this finished off," Plain wrote in a blog update on Sunday.

The Australian climbed six of the seven summits with British climber Gupta, who tweeted on Monday: "Hello from the top of the world!!! We’ve done it!! We’re on the summit of Everest!! Words simply can’t begin to describe what I can see & how I am feeling — it’s very emotional!!"

The previous record for the fastest ascent of the seven summits was set last year by Polish climber Janusz Kochanski, who did it in 126 days.

There is some controversy over which mountains should make the list of the highest continental summits. In one version Australia’s Mount Kosciuszko (2,228m) makes the list, while the other list defines the Carstensz Pyramid — a much harder 4,884m climb in Indonesia — as the highest peak of the Australian continent.

For good measure, Plain climbed both.

As well as the 4,892m Vinson, the other summits are Aconcagua (6,962m) in Argentina, Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro (5,895m), Elbrus (5,642m) in Russia and Denali (6,190m) in the US.